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Monday, May 16, 2011

Awake

Have you ever dreamt of waking up in the middle of a medical procedure? Sounds like a horror movie. Apparently it does happen. According to Wikipedia (which, most serious scholars know, is the most reliable source of information), Anesthesia awareness occurs around 0.1 – 0.2% in operations in US alone, annually – that’s approx. 20,000 t0 40,000 patients out of 20 million. Of cases known, it has been reported around 42% actually feel the pain during the operation, 70% experience psychological implications and 94% experience panic and anxiety.

“Awake” is a film that revolves around this very subject. I have not watched the film myself, but from reading summaries and watching the trailer, I’m rather intrigued. (Not merely because of Hayden Christensen/Jessica Alba).From the little information I’ve gathered, “Trust” is a major motif in this particular narrative.

When it comes to doctors, we really can’t escape from the idea of “Trust”. We trust them by placing our health, body and potentially our lives in their hands. But why? Why do we trust them? Because – well, they got through 4 years of college and another 4 for med school. Heck, they are the crème de la crème of your graduating class. (The pre-laws/pre everything else are great too) They should really know their stuff. Our common sense tells us that we could. Because they are professionals. I would argue in today’s science driven world, there is an element of blind trust when it comes to medical professionals. We trust them to the point that we don’t even question their authority. And with this given authority, comes power, and power with status (and of course, money will follow). The heartbreaking truth is, some professionals abuse this trust, and thus stories like “Doctor charged with sexual assault” or "Doctor-administers-HCl-acid-to-kid-instead-of-antibiotics" make headlines.

3 comments:

I also think we take our medical professionals for granted here in the US. Even though many people still cannot afford professional healthcare all the time, there are some places in which folk medicine dominates. Could you imagine letting a witchdoctor or healer amputate a limb based on their word only? In Tanzania, 19 albinos have been killed in the past 2 years because locals believe their amputated limbs lead to success in the mining and fishing industries...

This is a really interesting topic. I would be totally freaked out if I woke up in the middle of an operation. That being said, I am grateful to have access to advanced medicine. So, at the same time that we might distrust doctors, we have to have trust in technology. You might feel that doctors don't have the right to have your life in their hands. But their job is completely necessary. their status and money come from giving that we all need

This would definitely be my biggest fear if I went into surgery. Knowing your getting sliced open and being helpless to a scalpel without being able to communicate, not my cup of tea. If I needed to though, I would still trust the doctors since I would have nothing else to turn to. If he does not know than who does?